Good Sports and Great Dads

With special guests:

• Peter FitzSimons
• Neil Young

Our guests today have both written about what it means to be a father and they let us in on some of the influences that have shaped the way they relate to their children.

Peter FitzSimons is well known through his exploits on the rugby field and as a wide ranging author, journalist and commentator. We talk to Peter about his family values that were implanted as part of a big family growing up in Peats Ridge New South Wales.

Neil Young grew up in England but having come under the spell of life in the Byron Bay region he became a late blossomer on the soccer field and most importantly as a father. Neil has some great stories, some funny and some poignant, about his experiences on and off the field.

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Pillars of Strength

With special guests:

• Gary Sillett
• Michael Bourne

We have an opportunity in today’s show to draw inspiration from the way one father has responded to a tragedy in his family by speaking to Gary Sillett. Gary has established an Australian first, a program to help Dads cope when their newborn baby is in need of intensive medical care and to provide support if their baby loses the fight for life. This new program is called Pillars of Strength.

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Dads and Children

With special guests:

• Ken Thompson and

• David Vernon. 

Our first guest today is a Dad who has personal experience of what has become a type of epidemic in our community, namely the international abduction of children by a parent (IPCA). Ken Thompson was able to find his son Andrew and return to Australia after a three year search.

For many parents, particularly when the abducting parent goes to a non-Hague convention country there is unlikely to be any reunion.

It is estimated that at least 300 Australian children are abducted in this way every year which is an enormous toll on the community, the parents and the abducted children.

Ken brings us up to date with what is happening to help combat this practice which although being a criminal offence in the US and the UK does not appear in the Australian criminal law.

Ken gives some practical advice on what vulnerable parents should do to protect their children and also focuses attention on the upcoming Senate Inquiry.

Our second guest is David Vernon a Canberra based author who is the editor of Men at Birth. A second edition of this book was released in May 2011 and David came onto DADS ON THE AIR to discuss what he found after hearing about the birthing experiences of 23 men.

Compared to earlier generations, David Vernon believes men’s attitudes have changed:

More than ever before:

  * Many men now want to be part of that moment when the baby is born – to be with their partner, sharing the creation of their new family.

  * More men are attending ante-natal classes with their partner. They plan to attend the birth and are motivated to know what to expect.    

* Men are usually surprised by the reality of birth – and how tough and intense it can be for their partner.    

* Men realise that they do have a real role in  supporting their partner – and that she is often relying on them for them to help if there is a crisis or tough decisions need to be made.    

* Men are keen to know more about birth — not just the mechanics but how they can do ‘their bit’ to bring a new life into the world.

 David tells us

‘It is my hope that men who read Men at Birth, by becoming familiar with birth, will be able to let go of any excessive anxiety they may have about their upcoming experience. By becoming familiar with birth they will be better prepared.’

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Fathers At Heart Of Early Childhood

With special guest:

• Paul Prichard.                                                                          

While one arm of Government funded research, attached to an associated bureaucracy, promotes the view of the importance of fathers in early childhood, another arm of Government funded research and associated bureaucracy, promotes a one shoe fits all anti shared parenting policy.

 

Confusing the issue even further, is the deceptive ‘Equal Shared Parenting Responsibility’ legislation, enacted by the Howard Government. This clever but cruel, political smoke and mirrors psycho babble, served to fool Parliament and the community, into believing that Equal Shared Parenting Time, had finally become a reality, while in fact it simply allowed the sharing of parental responsibilities, where considered appropriate.

 

Totally ignored was the fact, that any notion of the equal sharing of parenting time, would continue to be subject to the mercy of the custodial parent.

 

But this week we play a recorded presentation, on the subject of why fathers should be central to our rethinking of early childhood in Australia. The keynote speech by Paul Prichard, ‘Centre for Community & Child Health”, was presented at the National Men’s Health Convention, in Newcastle.

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Democracy At Work

With special guests:

• Neil Humphreys
• Sue Price 
• Michael Woods and
• Benjamin Easton.

This week we range across a wide variety of subjects, talking first up with the ever lively author of a new book on becoming a dad, Be My Baby Neil Humphreys. From the cheery to the rational, we then talk with Sue Price, the founder of the Men’s Rights Agency, arguably the most articulate supporter, of the rights of men in our modern society.

This is followed by a fascinating interview with academic Dr. Michael Woods  UWS, as we take a revealing look at the way the real statistics on Domestic Violence and Child Abuse have been kept from the general public, and how many Government Policies appear to be formulated based on inaccurate information.

We close the show talking with Benjamin Easton a Political Busker, who is participating in a demonstration outside the Bank of New Zealand, protesting their outrageous portrayal of all men as bashers and all women as victims, clearly themselves the victims of domestic violence hysteria. Somewhere along the line they forgot that half their customers are male and most of them object to being portrayed as Neanderthals.

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The Impending Depression

Scott Longden

With special guests:

• Professor Bill Mitchell
• Scott Longden and
• Sue Price.

This week we feature a fascinating interview with Professor Bill Mitchell from the Centre of Full Employment and Equity at the University of Newcastle. He is one of the academics who is predicting that there could be a million Australians on the dole queues by the end of next year. On this week’s show he explains just how easily this could come about and also talks about the devastating social consequences for the nation - how severe the impacts are on fathers, families and children.

Also this week we run extracts from an interview with Scott Longden from the Fatherhood Project in Northern NSW. He talks about how important it is for fathers to get involved with their children from birth, and how men can help each other in prenatal classes to become the best fathers they can. For too long fathers have been seen as an almost irrelevant adjunct to the birth, whereas in reality fathers are vital to their children from their earliest days.

We finish the show with Sue Price from the Men’s Rights Agency, who talks about the frequency with which men are being jailed for alleged abuses which occur sometimes decades before they are actually jailed, often on extremely flimsy if not non-existent evidence.

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UK Special - Fathers Direct

Adrienne Burgess

With special guest:

• Adrienne Burgess, author of Fatherhood Reclaimed, and Policy and Research advisor to Fathers Direct - the UK National Information Centre on Fatherhood.

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Supporting New Dads

With special guests:

• Sean Tonnet, facilitator of the Transition to Fatherhood course at Manly Hospital, Sydney, NSW, and
• Joel Edson, creator of the Fathers and Families project in Port Augusta, South Australia

Dads on the Air looks at the growing area of ante-natal services for new dads-to-be.

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